Saturday, September 10, 2016

Book Review || The Bungalow Mystery (Nancy Drew #3) by Carolyn Keene

Synopsis from Goodreads:While trying to help a friend out of a difficulty, Nancy has a perilous experience in and around a deserted bungalow, from which only her bravery and quick thinking save her.

My Thoughts:
This book starts out with Nancy exclaiming loudly about some black storm clouds rolling in fast on her and her friend Helen Corning while they're out on a motorboat. She begins to get worried because they're a ways away from where they're staying. Smack dab in the middle of Twin Lakes with no life jackets, they're forced to keep moving or be stranded in the middle of the perilous lakes.

Before long, the wind starts rocking the boat and lightening starts. Of course, rain begins to fall shortly after. At the mercy of the rain, Nancy can't see more than 5 feet in front of her. In no time, a log pops up on their course and they end up crashing head first into it. This leaves a hole in the boat, and water immediately starts pouring in. No matter what they did to prevent water from coming into the boat, their efforts were futile.

Suddenly, a wave throws them overboard! Nancy, being a great swimmer, immediately swam to the surface and began frantically searching for Helen. She finally sees her floating on the surface of the water on her back. Nancy, despite her doubts of being able to tow both of them to shore, sets out to accomplish her goal. We all know how Nancy never backs down from a challenge when she puts her mind to it, don't we?

Finally, just as Nancy thought she was going to have to give up. She hears her ray of hope: someone yelling, "Hold on! I'm coming!" Their savior goes by the name of Laura Pendleton. They reach the shore finally, but have to seek shelter from the storm in a bungalow that's hidden within the treeline.

Upstairs at the bungalow, they stumble upon a furnished room. Complete with little cots to sleep on, an electric stove, a table and some chairs to accompany it, along with blankets so they could wrap themselves up in them to ward off the chill! To their surprise, they even found a closet chalk-full of food. Over some hot cocoa, Nancy and Helen find out that Laura's mother passed away a short time ago. Nancy fully understands due to the fact that she herself lost her mother at a young age. Lauren goes on to state that her father has also passed away, from a boating accident. We begin to see why Laura had put her life on the line to save Nancy and Helen in the storm.

After tidying up after themselves and leaving a thank you note for the owners of the bungalow, they parted. Back at the Pinecrest Motel, Nancy and Helen go to speak to Mr. Franklin who manages it, telling him all about their mishap. A woman walks in and states that her car has a flat and she needs someone to change a tire. Even though she seemed very rude to Nancy, she tells her that there are phones at a service station that was nearby.

The next morning, Laura shows up looking troubled. It turns out, the woman they had a run-in with last night was Laura's soon to be snotty guardian! After a game of tennis, Nancy, Helen, and Laura piled into Nancy's car and head to the Montewago Hotel where Laura was staying. They make plans to meet back up at a time later in the day so that Nancy and Helen could meet Laura's guardians.

On their way back, Nancy and Helen decide to take a detour back to the bungalow for the fun of it. They come across a black car speeding towards them and come to the conclusion that the man must have been Mr. Marshall, the people who use the bungalow on the weekends. Going back to the hotel, they meet up with Helen's aunt Jane. After sitting down for some lunch, Nancy receives a phone call with some bad news that her housekeeper, Hannah, has sprained her ankle. Nancy decides to return home to take care of her since her father is off on a business trip, but not until she meets the Aborns. Nancy soon became distrustful of Mrs. Aborn. Laura exchanges her address at Melrose Lake to Nancy and Helen and they said their goodbyes. Both friends express sentiments about the Aborns' personalities and come to the conclusion that neither one of them trust them.

Finally on her way back to her house, Nancy observes that the sky was getting cloudy. She had to take a detour that took her miles out of her way. Unfortunately, she gets stuck in a horrific downpour and she began to not be able to see in front of her. Just for Nancy's luck, a lightening strike hit a tree making it fall next to Nancy's car, narrowly missing her. Before too long, another car shows up and the boy and the girl within it help her move it out of the path. After exchanging thank you's, she was back on her way to her house.

A little bit further on in the story, Nancy gets a strange phone call from someone who sounds distressed over the phone. Not until later does she realize that the person on the other end of the phone was Laura Pendleton, and she seemed to be in danger! After Nancy gets home from sleuthing out some other mystery, she finds Laura at her house distressed. She goes on to explain to Nancy that her guardians are horrible people and are angry that she won't hand over her mother's jewels to them.

Nancy decides to go to Laura's house and snoop around. This leads her to a rather dangerous situation like it always seems to, and she has to use her quick wits to wrap up this mystery and get herself and a few others out of danger.

I love the fact that this book had more suspense in it than the previous two did, as well as more danger. The only issue with this is that I knew what was going to happen at the end of the story before I reached it.

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I'm a 22 year old product and book review blog. I'm a foodie, love natural products, makeup, and almost everything else I'll review.
I review horror, romance, middle-grade, YA, and most fiction. Open to interesting non-fiction as well. I'm currently ONLY accepting physical copies.